Madama Butterfly in the Finnish National Opera, the 20th of February, 2018

A lot has been talked about the Finnish National Opera’s Madame Butterfly by director Yoshi Oïda. The performances have been sold out including the additional performance that was arranged when the popularity of this version was realized. Most people know the story of the opera: American navy officer Pinkerton sort of marries a young Japanese woman (Butterfly), returns after a while to America and Butterfly, who is in love with him, waits for him faithfully in Japan. Finally he returns with his American wife and Butterfly, who meanwhile has born him a son, gives their son to his wife to raise and commits suicide.

On the whole the opera was visually rather nice. Perhaps not superb, but not bad either. The costumes by Thibault Vancraenenbroeck and stage setting by Tom Schenk were not totally realistic but rather hinted towards Japan. Anyhow, they did suit the story. In my opinion the use of colours was even symbolic: in some scenes bright colours were used abundantly and in others only earthy colours were present.   

About Puccini’s music it is safe to say that it was beautiful and strong. All the main soloists had strong voices and they could be easily heard even over the roaring orchestra. Markus Nykänen as Pinkerton made an interesting performance. He was excellent in the beginning as the cocky, racist Pinkerton, but perhaps not quite as believable in the end, where Pinkerton confesses to be a coward. Jeni Packalen as Suzuki was superb: her strong and warm mezzo voice was a pleasure to listen to and she was able to interpret Suzuki’s character beautifully with small gestures and expressions. Jaakko Kortekangas as Sharpless did his usual solid performance.  

But as an opera, Madama Butterfly either falls or triumphs together with its main soloist. On Tuesday the role was sung by the Korean opera singer, Hyeseoung Kwon. Kwon has a strong, exquisite soprano voice, though, in the beginning of the opera there was (especially in the higher notes) a metallic clang in it, that I wasn’t super infatuated with. But when her voice warmed up, the metallic clang disappeared and Butterfly’s final aria was an awesome performance. Puccini’s music is at its best in it and when it is combined with a magnificent vocal performance and good directing, we have a truly impressive scene. When the lights went out, I heard more than one sniff around me and that, I think, is the best proof that an opera has reached its main target, which is through great music to create an emotional experience that touches the spectators.